How old was your youngest credit card when you started the mortgage process?

[Anonymous]

I know we aren't supposed to open new credit for 6 months to a year before starting the mortgage process. 

I applied for a Discover in April 23, 2015 and the Freedom/ CSP combo in  July 18, 2015 because I thought it would take at least a year to save for my down. Well, out of the blue I got some great news in the form of enough money for a down payment. There was no way I could have seen that coming.

So, my question is, do I still need to wait the year now that the down payment is no longer an issue? My Freedom and CSP are only three months old. It's not the end of the world if I have to wait as my last baddie will fall off during that time. I'm just worried about interest rates going up. 

[Wovenyarn]

I'm not recommending this but I opened a Children's Place credit card less than a month before applying for a mortgage.  I honestly just didn't know better.  It wasn't an issue for me but about 3 weeks into the loan process my LO had to pull another credit report to show the card had the first payment paid on time and the account was in good standing.  I never heard anything else about it and I closed last month.

If you have everything else in order, you should still apply.

[Scupra]

Mine was three months old and never got brought up. Just keep it at $0 so it doesn't effect DTI

[Anonymous]

So 1 month and 3 month? That's fantastic news! As of right now, I have 6 accounts at 0 and1,, my Discover at about 10% I should be at 5 % by November 5th.

[Scupra]

Remember not to zero all cards out lol

[Anonymous]

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@Scupra wrote:
Remember not to zero all cards out lol

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Are you better off with a little reporting for the points, or 0 (if your score can support the point hit) for DTI calculation? I pay my card off every month, so should it be zero or leave some for calculation? DTI only, my mortage score is way high.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Scupra wrote:
Remember not to zero all cards out lol

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Are you better off with a little reporting for the points, or 0 (if your score can support the point hit) for DTI calculation? I pay my card off every month, so should it be zero or leave some for calculation? DTI only, my mortage score is way high.

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Personally I'd leave less than the required min payment (I think my Discover card is a min of $25) or something......So just pay it down and let like $20 report.    Something that small probably isn't going to affect your DTI too much and you'll still get the points for it reporting at less than 10%

[Anonymous]

As long as you have some other debts with some age, a new credit card will usually not make or break your approval.

[Anonymous]

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@Scupra wrote:
Remember not to zero all cards out lol

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Ha! I know right? Who'd have thought after years of  routinely carrying a balance, that could be a problem.  I have a balance on my Discover because I took advantage of a 0 %t  BT and purchases offer so I don't feel the need to pay that off until i'm a few months from offers end. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Scupra wrote:
Remember not to zero all cards out lol

---

Are you better off with a little reporting for the points, or 0 (if your score can support the point hit) for DTI calculation? I pay my card off every month, so should it be zero or leave some for calculation? DTI only, my mortage score is way high.

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Personally I'd leave less than the required min payment (I think my Discover card is a min of $25) or something......So just pay it down and let like $20 report.    Something that small probably isn't going to affect your DTI too much and you'll still get the points for it reporting at less than 10%

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Jlynn this is an excelent idea. When my BT is paid off in January I'll probably do this as I won't really have a need to carry a balance.  Right now, I just pay everything off on the 30th, but keep using the card until the statement actually closes on the 5th. This usually results in a a few hundred being reported, but my utilization would be at about 1 percent.